Fence clip fastening tool



y 8, 1968 H. J. EASTON 3,385,326

FENCE CLIP FASTENING TOOL Filed March 22, 1965 INVENTOR. HARLA/V J A5TON ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,385,326 FENCE CLIP FASTENING TOOLHarlan J. Easton, Box 607, Blooming Prairie, Minn. 55917 Filed Mar. 22,1965, Ser. No. 441,655 1 Claim. (Cl. 140-123) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREA fence clip fastened tool having a single handle with a jaw formed atone end thereof and a second jaw pivotally attached thereto for normallyencompassing a clip, and, upon engagement with a fence post and pivotingaction therearoun-d, forming the clip to fit the post. Each of the jawshas a clip receiving groove therein, and the jaws are biased into a clipretaining position by a spring.

This invention pertains to an improved fastening tool for attaching thehorizontal wire of fences to a metal fence post with a small wire fenceclip and more particularly to an improved tool which maintains a fenceclip therein until ready for use and which substantially preventslateral movement of the clip within the tool thereby minimizing the lossof clips as well as insuring a positive and uniform bend in the clipabout the fence post.

In prior art fence clip fastening tools a handle bar having one endcurved to extend around one edge of a metal fence post and a pivotallyattached hook member curved to extend around the other edge of the fencepost cooperate to form clip-bending jaws. To utilize this tool a clip isinserted into the jaws and the jaws and clip are held with one handwhile one jaw and one end of the clip are engaged about one edge of thefence post and the other end of the clip and the pivotal jaw are placedin position at the other edge of the fence post. The handle is thenpivoted about the fence post to bend the clip in place. However, sincethese prior art tools have nothing to prevent the clip from movinglater-ally, in many instances the clip will simply slide out laterallyand not bend and in many instances the clip will slide partially outwhereby the bend in all of the clips will not be uniform and optimum.Also, these prior art devices ar very cumbersome since there is nothingto retain the clip between the jaws and the one jaw is free to pivotrelative to the other jaw until the tool is engaged about a fence post,thus requiring an operator to use both hands throughout the clipfastening operation.

In the present invention a handle bar with a curved portion adapted toextend around one edge of a metal fance post has an inner surface oredge along the bight of the curve which forms a first clip-bending jaw.A groove at the tip of the jaw receives one end of the fence clip andsubstantially prevents lateral movement thereof. A book member ispivotally attached to the handle bar and has an inner surface or edgealong the bight of the curve which forms a second clip-bending jaw. Inoperation the first jaw and the second jaw cooperate to bend the clipinto the desired form about the fence post. A plurality of grooves inthe surface of the second jaw or book member maintain the clip rigidlyin position between the jaws and substantially prevent lateral movementthereof. A tension spring having one end fixedly attached to the handlebar and the other end fixedly attached to the end of the hook memberopposite the curve biases the hook member so that the jaws are normallyin a clip-retaining position.

Thus, a fence clip fastening tool is disclosed which securely retainsthe clips between fence fastening operations and during the fasteningoperation. Also, the new and improved tool prevents lateral movement ofthe clip during the fastening operation whereby the clips are all bentuniformly and loss of clips etc. is minimized.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fence clipfastening tool which securely holds the clips and prevents loss thereofor improper bending.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fence clipfastening tool which securely holds the clips between fence fasteningoperations whereby the tool may be used with one hand leaving the otherhand free to place clips therein.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art upon consideration of the accompanying specification,claim, and drawings.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters indicate like partsthroughout the figures:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the present invention, illustrated inthe clip-fastening position in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is an edge view of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the side opposite to that shown in FIG.1, parts thereof broken away;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view as seen from the line 44 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view as seen from the line 5--5 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a clip fastened to a metal fence post, the dottedlines illustrate the clip in the unfastened position.

In the figures the numeral 19 designates a handle bar having a curvedend portion 11 attached thereto by some means such as rivets 12 or thelike. It should be understood that curved portion 11 could be anintegral portion of handle bar 10 and is shown as a separate portion forsimplicity of construction. The curved portion 11 is adapted to extendaround one edge of a metal fence post designated 13. The metal fencepost 13 has a T- shaped cross section with a vertical, approximatelyfiat portion 16 of the fence post 13 forming the cross arm of the T. Ametal clip 14 is engaged with the flat portion 16 of the fence post 13by bending both ends around the edges thereof.

In FIG. 6 the fence post 13 is illustrated with a clip 14, shown m fulllines, securely engaged thereto. A fence wire 15, shown broken away, iswoven between the clip 14 and the fence post 13 whereby the wire 15 issecurely fastened to the fence post 13. The clip 14 in an unbent orunfastened state is illustrated in FIG. 6 in dotted lines. Theunfastencd clip has one end 17 which is doubled over in approximately a180 angle to extend around one edge of the fence post. The other end 18of the clip has a bend of approximately the same distance from the end.The two bends are spaced apart on the clip .a sufiicient distance toallow the flat portion 16 of the fence post 13 to lie therebetween.

Again referring to the tool the curved portion 11, which is somewhatC-shaped and has one end fixedly attache-d to the handle bar 10, has agroove 20 at the opposite tip thereof which is adapted to receive theend 18 of clip 14. The groove 20 at the tip of the curved member 11 isformed by fixedly attaching a U-shaped portion 40 to the tip of thecurved member 11. The tip of the curved member 11 is fitted into thebight of the U-shaped portion 40 so that a part of the U-shaped portionextends past the end of the tip, thereby forming a groove at the end ofthe tip having a U-shaped cross section. The groove 20 has a depthapproximately equal to the radius of the clip 14 so that the edges ofthe groove do not interfere with bending of the clip 14 snugly againstthe fence post 13 while they substantially prevent lateral movement ofthe end 18 of the clip 14 within the tool.

A hook-shaped member 25 is pivotal-1y attached to the curved member 11by some means such as rivet 26. The

hook member is composed of three pieces, 35, 36 and 37 sandwichedtogether in that order. The three pieces 3537 are fixedly attached toeach other by some means such as welding or the like. The pieces 35 and37 are hook-shaped duplicates and the piece 36 sandwiched therebetweenhas approximately the same thickness as the curved member 11. Thehook-shaped member 25 is attached to the curved member 11 so that theends of the two members form cooperating jaws.

The bight or the inner curved surface, which is designated numeral 30,of the hook-shaped member 25 is shaped to fit snugly over the end 17,including the 180 bend, to clip 14 when it is forced into the fasteningposition about the edge of the portion 16 of fence post 13. To securelyfasten the clip 14 to the fence post 13 the fastening tool is rotated asuflicient distance to force the end 17 of clip 14 and the edge of thefence post 13 into the bight of the hook 25. This insures a uniform bendat the end 17 of clip 14 and forces the end of the clip tightly againstthe back of the fiat surface 16 of the fence post 13.

The inner surface in the bight of the curve forming the hook member 25has a plurality of grooves therein for receiving the clip 14 prior tothe fastening operation. A first groove 31 at the tip of the hook member25 engages the clip 14 near the end 17 after the 180 bend. A secondgroove 32 engages the clip 14 near the 180 bend but in the midsection ofthe clip 14. A third groove 33 engages the clip 14 near the end 18 butbefore the 90 bend in the midsection of the clip 14. It should beunderstood that the grooves 20, 31, 32 and 33 are positioned in What isconsidered the most advantageous portions of the clip but could be movedto different portions of the clip and, if a different type of clip isutilized, a different number of grooves may be desirable.

To form the grooves 31, 32 and 33 portions of the central piece 36 ofbook member 25 are ground away, or removed in some similar fashion,leaving grooves formed between the pieces 35 and 37. The thickness ofthe part 36 and the curved member 11 is slightly greater than thediameter of the clip 14 so that the clip 14 fits easily into the grooves31, 32 and 33 while lateral movement of the clip 14 is substantiallyprevented.

A tension spring has one end connected to the handle bar 10 by means ofan L-shaped member 46. L- shaped member 46 is connected to the handlebar 10 by one of the rivets 12. The other end of the tension spring 45is connected to an L-shaped member 47 which is fixedly attached to thehook-shaped member 25. The L-shaped member 47 is attached to thehook-shaped member 25 by some means such as welding etc. at the end ofthe member 25 opposite the hook. The pivotal mounting rivet 26 connectsthe hook-shaped member 25 to the curved member 11 between the L-shapedmember 47 and the bight of the book. With this attachment the tensionspring 45 provides a bias on the hook-shaped member 25 tending to rotateit clockwise in FIG. 3 which is into a clip-retaining position or aclosed-jaw position.

In the operation of the present tool the hook member 25 is rotatedclockwise in FIG. 1 until the clip 14 can be placed between the jaws.The hook-shaped member 25 is then released and the tension spring 45rotates it to the clip-retaining position. The end 17 of the clip 14 andthe bight of the hook-shaped member 25 are then placed about one edge ofthe fence post 13 and pressure is applied to the handle bar 10 in adownward direction, in FIG. 1, until the tool assumes the dottedposition. In this position the end 18 of clip 14 is bent into snugengageemnt with the other edge of the fiat portion 16 of fence 13 andthe end 17 is bent into snug engagement with the first edge thereof. Thetool is then removed by rotating it counterclockwise past the originalposition. A new clip 14 may then be placed in the jaws of the tool andit will be retained there, through the action of tension spring 45,until the operator is ready to use it.

Thus, a new and improved fence clip fastening tool is disclosed in whichlateral movement of the clip is substantially prevented whereby loss ofclips and nonuniform bending is eliminated. Also, because of theclipretaining features the present tool is much easier to operate thanthe prior art devices.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of thisinvention, further modifications and improvements will occur to thoseskilled in the art. I desire it to be understood, therefore, that thisinvention is not limited to the particular form shown and I intend inthe appended claim to cover all modifications which do not depart fromthe spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. A fence clip fastening tool comprising:

(a) a single handle bar with a curved portion at one end thereof adaptedto extend around one edge of a metal fence post;

(b) said curved portion having an inner surface in the bight of thecurve forming a first clip-bending jaw;

(c) a groove in the tip of said first jaw for receiving one end of afence clip and substantially preventing lateral movement thereof;

(d) a hook shaped member pivotally attached to the curved portion ofsaid handle bar to extend around the other edge of said fence post;

(e) said hook shaped member having an inner surface in the bight of thecurve forming a second clip bending jaw for cooperating with said firstjaw;

(f) clip-receiving grooves in said inner surface of said hook shapedmember for engaging said fence clip at a plurality of poinits along saidclip and substantially preventing lateral movement of said clip; and

(g) spring biasing means connected to said handle bar and said hookshaped member for biasing said first and second cooperating jaws in theclip-retaining position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,709,908 4/1929 Free 1231,848,763 3/1932 Baringer 140-123 1,931,576 10/1933 De Neui 14055CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD J. HERBST, Examiner.

E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner.

